


Come Fly With Me

by CarpeDentum



Series: You can't expect me to just change [1]
Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Sad Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 02:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDentum/pseuds/CarpeDentum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve sits at a café, waiting for Iron Man to fly by. It's been two months since he last spoke to Tony. He just wants to know he's alright.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Fly With Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amethystina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethystina/gifts).



> So this is a Christmas gift to [Amethystina](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethystina/pseuds/Amethystina). Just a short in the middle of life thing which happens to be my thing when it comes to fiction. Especially fanfiction.
> 
> Inspired by [this](http://soldieress.tumblr.com/post/29905423447) gifset.
> 
> I might make this into a series of snippets but we'll see. For now I'll let this stand alone.
> 
> EDIT: [There is now art for this fanfiction by the glorious Lienwyn.](http://lienwyn.tumblr.com/post/39854899444/wayofthewarrior-gave-me-a-steve-tony-fanfic-for) Go look at it now!
> 
> EDIT2: I will be writing more ficlets for this.

He was at the café again. Steve narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sky. It was a clear day, only a few clouds littering across the sky. He was there early, almost every table was empty besides his own the one in the corner that was always occupied by the same old lady. If Steve hadn’t known better he would have thought she was a statue. He always thought there was something familiar about her but he refused to ask about it. She could be someone he’d known and he would just rather not know. She lifted a cup of tea to her lips and Steve lift his eyes towards the sky again.

_“You waiting on the big guy? Iron Man. A lot of people wait here just to see him fly by.”_

Steve hadn’t been looking for Iron Man that time, he had been avoiding him. Things were different now though and he hated to admit it to himself but he was waiting for him to fly by. Maybe he didn’t use this route anymore. Steve had never asked and it had been well over a year. It was actually closer to two now when he thought about it. So much had happened since then. No, he hadn’t been looking for Iron Man that time but he was now. Or Tony. To be honest he was just looking for Tony. He sighed and looked down at his sketch pad again. It wasn’t anything special, just the table and chair slightly to his left.

_“You can’t expect me to just change.”_

The words were still clear as the sky above. Tony had said them, turned around and left. Steve hadn’t seen him since. And there was no way telling if Tony was the unreasonable one or if Steve was. Maybe it was both of them. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened and even if this was somehow fixed it wouldn’t be the last. Steve and Tony seemed to do that with each other, mess things up. Could it be that they were incapable of keeping themselves together? Should they simply quit now while things were bad. Knowing Tony was an adventure in itself and Steve wasn’t sure if that adventure wanted him along for the ride.

He closed his eyes and let the sun warm his skin as he listened to the sounds of the city. Two years in and he was still amazed by the changes in the city he’d known and loved. That he had sworn to protect. And he would keep that promise even if nothing were the same because the people here now were the same as when he’d grown up. And it was the children and grandchildren of his friends, of people he’d met.

Like Tony.  
   
It had all started with that kiss. Like things often do. It hadn’t been perfect by any means. Tony had been drunk, which was his usual state so Steve hadn’t thought much about it. He’d come in while Steve was making a late night sandwich before bed. They had barely acknowledged each other even if their relationship was a lot less frosty now. It was more of a comfortable silence while Steve ate and Tony poured yet another glass of whiskey. The clock on the wall in the hallway could be heard through the silence as well as a distant talking from the living room TV.

It had been an uneventful day. Steve had spent it visiting places where he had grown up, gone to school, met his first crush, met Bucky. Then he’d tried to make himself exhausted by running. It hadn’t worked this time either. He wondered how long the serum would work. Nothing stayed in a body forever, did it? So far he seemed to still be the same as when he’d been injected with it. After that he’d spent the rest of the day reading. He had a lot of things to catch up on. So many books had been written in the past 65 years. And then there was television. He had missed all of that. And so many movies he hadn’t seen. Maybe he didn’t need to do it all, no living person did. But he had a gap in his memories and he felt like he needed to fill it, that nothing would make sense if he didn’t have the missing pieces.

Steve finished his sandwich and was about to retire to bed. It was much later than it was decent to be up. Which explained why everyone but himself, Tony and Natasha was asleep. And soon Steve was going to be soon. Or that was what he had planned if Tony hadn’t distracted him.

It was so cliché it would most likely make people gag. Tony reached out for Steve’s arm and tugged at him, made him turn around and then crashed their lips together. Crashing being the right word for it. It was uncomfortable and almost hurt as their teeth clacked together and Tony’s fingers dug into Steve’s arms in a way that would have bruised him if it hadn’t been for the serum. Steve was still for a while, overwhelmed by the taste of whiskey and the beard against his jaw and just the sheer force of Tony.

_“Good night, Steve.”_

It had continued from there. Not that night. Steve had gone to bed and that had been that. But it became a thing after that, kissing good night. It was better as well because Tony wasn’t as drunk and Steve was prepared and the more times they did it the nicer the kisses got. And the more handsy they became until the good night kisses became good night sex and then Tony stopped leaving afterwards and in the end he just moved into Steve’s room instead even if Tony’s was bigger.

_“Yours is nicer. I like the colour on the walls. Stop analyzing me, Cap.”_

Steve hadn’t had time to have this before. Because at first he’d been tiny and undesirable and then he’d been a joke and then a hero and then he’d gotten a date and became Sleeping Beauty and missed it. He often wondered if Peggy had gone there as promised and waited for him. He wondered if she was still alive and if she’d seen him on TV. He tried not to think too much about it.

Anyway, he hadn’t had much time for relationships and feeling liked in the way Tony seemed to like him. He wouldn’t say love because Tony didn’t and Steve was not going to assume things and then be disappointed. They didn’t talk about it. To be honest they didn’t talk much at all when they weren’t arguing. The longer they kept it up for the more Steve saw that all they did together was work, argue or have sex. Sometimes they stole a kiss away from prying eyes but it was always raw, somehow sexual.

_“Come on, Cap. I won’t break.”_

Steve had tried to slow down once in bed. He’d pushed Tony back gently and set about kissing down his neck and jaw, touching offered skin. He just wanted to make sure they had time to both get undressed this time. Steve wanted to hear all of Tony’s little noises, wanted to whisper what he had realised he started to feel about him. All those little things he’d never had before but really wanted. And then Tony said he wouldn’t break and Steve could deal with that. Maybe Tony just didn’t get anything out of slowing down, savouring. But he’d also called Steve Cap.

Cap was what Tony always called Steve but mostly when they were working. It was a nickname but it was a nickname without personality. Never once had Tony called him Steve in bed or during a kiss. Steve hadn’t noticed before but he did now. So he did what Tony asked of him and went back to their usual procedure. He didn’t touch everything, didn’t whisper anything into his skin and ended up still having his shirt on when Tony fell asleep beside him.

_“Cap, we don’t have time now.”_

And it came again. Steve had cornered Tony against the fridge in the kitchen and leaned down to kiss him softly, simply wanting a kiss. He knew everyone was at home, he knew they would want to eat soon but he didn’t care. What did it matter if they other’s knew? They already did since Tony always slept in Steve’s room so why was it so bad if they saw? But he had pulled back with a small smile and nodded.

He knew even then that it wouldn’t work forever. And still he couldn’t stay away because he loved Tony. He hadn’t meant to but somehow through this he’d fallen for Tony and he had thought it would be the same for him. He realised that even if he had told himself he wasn’t going to assume anything about what Tony felt he had assumed that sometime Tony would fall in love with him, that they could have an ordinary relationship somehow. This time and age seemed to think it was okay and Steve was certainly on board with it.

_“We need to talk? Are you serious? Are you going to break up with me now?”_

Tony sounded so bored, almost mocking, when he said it and Steve knew he had already lost. He still pressed on, hoping that maybe he was wrong. He tried to explain that after one and a half years this didn’t work any longer. Told Tony he loved him, that he didn’t mind this if he could just sometimes be allowed to show that, steal a kiss in their home without Tony saying someone could see them. He just wanted to stop this ridiculous dance and have a relationship.

_“You can’t expect me to just change.”_

And then Tony had turned around and left. That had been that. Steve hadn’t seen him or spoken to him since. He had tried calling but all his calls were redirected to Pepper and she just told him Tony might need some more time. So there was nothing to do. He could only wait and hope for Tony to want to change, for him. Steve knew he had no right but he couldn’t help it. If there was one thing he wanted for himself it was Tony. And he could never have him, not really. It was like a bad romance novel.

_“So you want your own place?”_

Steve moved out and into his own place. A little thing in town, close to the headquarters. It was all his own and a little empty but he could work with it. He’d packed up in a hurry and left. He didn’t think Tony would care much. He would probably move on soon enough and find someone else who had a warm bed and the time to spare. Steve had wanted to believe in love but it was a silly notion. Perhaps he should have left it back in the war with most of his dreams.

The apartment was still rather empty after two months. More and more sketches of the New York skyline filled the walls but it didn’t feel quite like home. Late at night when he couldn’t sleep he imagined Tony being there, like it had been sometimes. Tony always fell asleep first and Steve stayed awake for a while, just enjoying the warmth.

When the voice of a woman asking him if he wanted more coffee reached him Steve had to wake up from his dreams. He shook his head and asked to pay instead. It was time after all. He could see him from far away, Tony. Iron Man. He came closer, flew by high up there. Some children not too far away stopped and pointed and Steve followed the gold and red dot until it disappeared completely. He gathered his things, paid, and left. He would be back tomorrow to look for him again.

\--

Tony saw him down there when he passed. He could tell which one was Steve from a mile away. He saw him sit there alone almost every day and he saw Steve look up at him. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew Steve was there to look for him and maybe, just maybe, that was why he flew by. Every day Tony told himself he was just doing it to make sure Steve was still alright and every time the blond wasn’t there Tony flew around half of New York, hoping he would see him by chance. He knew where the apartment was as well and he might have flown by once or twice on those days, just to see that Steve was still there, still okay.

Tony had never wanted to change. He’d fought so much not to change that he missed the fact that he already had. And then it was too late. Maybe one day he would stop being a coward and pick up when Steve called. Or call Steve himself like Pepper wanted him to.

He still slept in Steve’s room. Refused to let it be cleaned out.

He’d stolen one of Steve’s shirts to wear around the house.

Tony watched Steve leave the café just like almost every day in the past months. Watched him take his things and walk away. It was too far to see but Tony imagined the smile he knew Steve would have for the waitress as he passed by on his way out. Maybe Tony would be close enough to see it tomorrow.

_“I love you Tony. Please, let me love you.”_


End file.
